Page 14 Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Pensioner is
jailed in Iran
over ‘spying’
A RETIRED British businessman has
been jailed for 12 years in Iran on spy-
ing charges, it emerged yesterday.
Anousheh Ashoori’s daughter said the
Iranians’ claims were ‘preposterous’.
Mr Ashoori, a British-Iranian dual
national, was handed a ten-year sentence
for feeding information to Israel’s Mossad
spy agency, Iran announced yesterday.
The 65-year-old was given another two
years for receiving £30,000 from Israel.
Mr Ashoori was held in Tehran in August
2017 and sentenced several months ago.
His daughter Elika said her father, who ran
a building supplies company, has already
had an appeal rejected. She claimed he
was targeted due to his dual nationality.
‘He is not able to see a lawyer or the evi-
dence against him,’ she told The Times.
‘It is preposterous to suggest he is a spy.’
Iran is thought to be holding at least
four Iranians who also hold British pass-
ports. The Foreign Office believes they
are being used as pawns as diplomatic
tensions rise following the jailing of Brit-
ish mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in- UK-Iran relations have worsened in
recent weeks following a series of tanker
seizures in the Gulf.
Iranian state TV also confirmed yester-
day that a ten-year sentence for Aras
Amiri, an Iranian citizen with permanent
residency in the UK, had been upheld.
She has already been in prison for a year.
MINISTERS were told to ‘come clean’ on
HS2 yesterday after it emerged they
knew it was £1billion over budget in 2016.
Officials have repeatedly insisted the
project is on time and on budget, with
transport minister Nusrat Ghani giving
fresh assurances to MPs last month.
But a letter from former transport sec-
retary Patrick McLoughlin to then chan-
cellor George Osborne – sent before MPs
voted to build the line – said the initial
London to Birmingham leg was already
£1billion over its £24billion budget.
The letter, seen by the BBC, shows offi-
cials were considering delaying the first
phase by a year to slash costs.
The budget for the entire project, due
to be completed by 2033, is currently
£56billion. An official review into HS2’s
future was launched last week.
John O’Connell, from the TaxPayers’ Alli-
ance, said: ‘Ministers should come clean
about the costs and let the new review
ask difficult questions about whether HS
should still go ahead.’Ministers knew
of soaring HS
bill 3 years ago
Neighbours’ feud
that ‘led to murder’
Ex-councillor
died of head
wounds ‘after
fence dispute’
A COMPANY director is to
appear in court today accused of
murdering her neighbour in a row
over a boundary fence.
Debby Foxwell, 40, was arrested
after former councillor Louise Lotz
died at the weekend from serious
head injuries.
Foxwell, who runs her own business, is
due to appear before magistrates charged
with murder and aggravated burglary.
A 36-year-old man was also arrested on
suspicion of murder, but has since been
released with no further action.
Miss Lotz, 64, was found collapsed in
the street outside her home following a
disturbance on Saturday evening. Emer-
gency services were called but she died at
the scene.
Residents in the tree-lined street in
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire,
where homes sell for more than £600,000,
claimed there had been history between
the two women concerning a dispute
over a fence.
Yesterday a friend of Miss Lotz, a thera-
pist and former Liberal Democrat local
councillor who later joined the Green
Party, said she had called police over a
previous incident.
Marc Scheinmann, chairman of the Wel-
wyn Hatfield Green Party, said
her death was ‘completely
avoidable’. Hertfordshire Police
has already referred itself to the
Independent Office for Police
Conduct for review.
Tributes were paid last night
to Miss Lotz, who was a Lib
Dem councillor from 2008 to
2011 and had lived in the street
for 11 years. A spokesman for
the local Lib Dem association
said: ‘The Liberal Democrats
are shocked and saddened by
the tragic death of Louise Lotz.
‘Louise worked tirelessly for
her community as a Welwyn Hat-
field Borough Councillor and
always stood up for what she
believed in. The Liberal Demo-
crats send our deepest condo-
lences to her family and friends.’
Miss Lotz, who is originallyfrom South Africa, had also
worked with disabled students.
She held a degree and teaching
diploma from the University of
Cape Town and a master’s from
the Open University. She had
also studied at the University
of Hertfordshire.
She spoke of her activism dur-
ing her campaign to be re-
elected as a councillor for thePeartree ward in 2011. ‘I’ve lived
in Welwyn Garden City almost
30 years, and my children
attended local schools,’ she said.
‘I used to teach and later worked
in equalities. Everyone says
things have improved since the
Lib Dems were elected in
Peartree in 2008. Streets are
cleaner and hedges are cut more
often. With fellow councillor
Malcolm Cowan, I’ve worked
with residents to identify what
needs doing.’
Yesterday Detective Chief
Inspector Jerome Kent of Hert-By Emine Sinmaz
Suburban: Street in Welwyn
Garden City where she livedVictim:
Louise
Lotz, 64,
was found
collapsed
near her
home‘Stood up for what
she believed in’fordshire Constabulary said the
force’s thoughts were with Miss
Lotz’s family and friends.
He added: ‘I understand that
news of this incident will be
unsettling to the wider commu-
nity but I would like to confirm
that we are treating it as an iso-
lated offence and we are not
looking for anyone else in con-
nection with the investigation.
‘I also ask residents to refrain
from speculating about the
circumstances on social media,
as this will not only cause
distress to the victim’s family
but could also impact the
investigation and associated
justice process.’
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